Living life – Page 36 – Physician In Numbers

Anticipation

I’m going through a tough time now. I’m working long hours, and I can’t say I am loving winter. In fact, Spring is welcome to drop in, any time it feels ready.

Normally when I start feeling like this, I’d start daydreaming about my next trip. I would browse the internet to consider various destinations, maybe even finding a plane ticket, or looking at hotels to stay in.

Get Your FULL Salary

For the employed physician out there, your salary comes to you in forms other than your monthly paycheck. This post is a reminder not to give some of it away.

Future Me, the February Follow Up

At the end of October 2018, I wrote about 10 Steps to Future Me. I was a bit worried that I would be cutting back on work and frittering that extra time away. Those 10 steps were meant to move towards my idea of how I wanted to improve myself and/or find new activities to give my life some purpose and form once I am no longer working full time. I thought it might be time to review them, see what progress I had made, and think about how I might move forward on some of those 10 steps.

To be brief, there were 10 items to work on over time, but I really only planned to address 4 or 5 of them over the short term. What have I gotten done in the past 3 to 4 months?

Beware the Anahafta

I recently had the pleasure of a “day off.” I use the quotation marks, because I was still covering issues at the office by phone.

After a relaxing breakfast, I was attacked by the dangerous, slithering Anahafta, which tried to choke some of the happiness out of my day.

I suspect that you, too, have had to deal with this untamable beast, though perhaps you know it by a different name.

Stepping onto the hedonic treadmill

My husband and I have been traveling to visit family recently, and with one thing and another, have had the opportunity to go through the TSA Precheck line, and also to use Priority Pass membership (free with our credit card) to get into airport lounges. Benefiting from these programs was very pleasant, but also thought-provoking.

Happy 2019!

If all goes well, I will out partying it up. Or, at least I will be away from my personal computer. I hope you have a wonderful celebration and a happy and healthy New Year.

2018 in Review

This is the time of year when people make resolutions for the next year. Usually there is talk of losing weight, saving more, getting ahead.

Before I think about resolutions for 2019, I would like to look back at 2018, and think about accomplishments I can point to with pride. I tip my hat again to Maggie at Northern Expenditure, who wrote about The-Fill-the-Bucket-List. It really did make me think about goals and achievements in a very different way.

In Search of the Two-Fer

In medicine, I love to sell my patients on the “two-fer,” those lovely medications that have more than one benefit: this medication will help your migraines and help with weight loss! This one will lower your sugar and help regulate your periods! This pill can protect you from a heart attack and lower your risk of colon cancer! I can’t always get them to take their meds, but this always feels like I am getting them a deal.

[As a reminder, please do not construe the above as medical advice. Medication choice is something you should discuss with your own physician, who knows you; not something you do based on what a stranger types on the Internet.]

In life, there are other two-fers.

The YOLO Chair

In the corner of my parents’ living room sits a large armchair, Louis XV style. It’s my father’s chair, generally speaking no one else sits in it, unless one of the cats sneaks in. It’s quite handsome, and guests frequently remark on it.

My mother tells the story of how they acquired the chair:

One Doctor’s Retirement, 20 years later

In my prior post, I wrote about my father’s career and retirement preparations. He retired just over 20 years ago, and from what I can see, had a pretty good time.

Over the years we have talked about finances, and though I haven’t announced firm plans to retire early, I think he can tell I am thinking about it. He has been giving more advice recently, mostly to keep working.

I thought I would share some of his recent advice, and some of my observations of his two-decades-long retirement, which I hope will go another decade more.